Llicenciatura en Administració i Direcció d'Empreses (3323)
Llicenciatura en Economia (3322)

Política d'Empresa Internacional(11884) 

Tema 1. Presentation of the course

The course discusses the management of the relation between business and society. It focuses on the political dimension of this relation at the international level. It is organized as a MBA course and is intended to third year students.
The objective is to provide knowledge of the new social issues faced by business at the international level and to propose a framework for future managers to deal with these issues.
Rather than universal solutions, the course offers a methodology for individuals to find their own way in the face of the ethical dilemmas that arise.
The course uses lectures, articles’ discussions, case studies and videos.

Tema 2. Introduction (Lecture)

The development of international business, beyond national political borders, raises new issues with regard to its political role.
Should business be neutral and focuses solely on its economic role?
This course argues this is neither an efficient approach, neither a responsible one. Multinational corporations gained so much power that it becomes obliged to manage the ethical dimension of their behavior. The course will provide a methodology to better manage the non-economic dimensions.

Tema 3. The Philosophy of Ethics: Western and Eastern perspectives (Lecture)

There are ethical issues because there is a distinction between how things are and how things could be. Philosophical western perspectives that give superiority to the facts (how things are) are pragmatic. Philosophical western perspectives that give superiority to the ideas ( how things could be) are idealist. Philosophical eastern perspectives try to accept the tension between facts and ideas without giving superiority to one of them. Building on Aristotle (virtue), Kant (idealism), Mill (utilitarianism) and oriental spiritual approaches (Hinduism and Confucianism), we present a framework to approach ethical dilemmas.

Tema 4. The individual responsibility: Peter Green’s first day (Case Study)

Peter green is a young salesman who has recently joined a company. During a visit to a customer, he understands that his boss asks him to do something that is not ethical. What should he do? What are the pragmatic and idealist arguments? How would you do in such a situation?

Tema 5. The political responsibility: Italian Tax Mores (Case Study)

A US company operates in Italy. The practice for calculating and paying taxes is rather obscure to its manager. From his US point of view, it seems that some commonly accepted Italian practices resemble corruption. What should he do? Is ethics relative to the culture of the country in which a company operates? How the distinction pragmatism versus idealism apply in this case?

Tema 6. The business responsibility: M. Friedman (Article)

In a famous article "The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits", Nobel Prize laureate Milton Friedman explains that companies promote the common good by pursuing their economic interest and solely their economic interest. Any attempt to acknowledge a social responsibility beyond profits would be detrimental to the society. In this manner, Friedman summarizes a view held by some economists according to which it is irrational to be ethical. How the argument is constructed? Is it a pragmatic or a idealist perspective? Does it still apply in today’s global world?

Tema 7. Financial Globalization and International Crime (Lecture)

The phenomenon that we call today "globalization" has its roots in the development of financial markets. This lecture presents the man steps of the globalization process, from Bretton Woods to the Asian Crisis. It shows how the political autonomy of global financial markets relates with national democratic processes over the world and why the ethical dimension of business becomes more and important, for citizens of course, but also, for business itself.

Tema 8. Financial Markets and Fraud (Case Study with Video)

Financial markets deal with companies through numbers. But do numbers really mean something? Is it possible to have numbers mean what we want? The case of ZZZ Best company in the United-Sates shows how it is possible to fool everybody when "cooking the numbers". Would such a case be possible in Spain, in Europe, even today? How is it possible to prevent such fraud to happen?

Tema 9. Financial Markets and Ethics (lecture)

Do shareholders care about the ethical management of the company they invest in? The current and strong growth of "socially responsible funds" shows indeed that investors may prefer to invest in companies that behave ethically. Do they loose money by doing so? It is not sure… How do investors know companies are ethical? This course shows how financial markets may also be a powerful vector of ethical behavior in business in the future.

Tema 10. Global Marketing of Tobacco Companies (World Health Organization report)

Can we sell any product that people want to buy? Can we advertise a product that is dangerous for your health and that creates a habit that can lead you to death? When some countries begin to restrict consumption and advertisement of tobacco products, should tobacco companies invest in less-developed countries to avoid regulation? The behavior of tobacco companies has been severely criticized in the past 15 years and became an example of unethical business behaviors that international political authorities want to fight, and in first place the World Health Organization. We study the introduction of a report of the WHO that describes all the strategy tobacco companies are using to make profit.

Tema 11. Influence of Multinational Companies on Global Climate Change (Case Study)

While an international panel of scientific experts has pointed at the risk of climate change, some companies are reluctant to acknowledge the reality of the threat and try to block any political action that may restrain their activity. Other companies prefer to be active and say they want to participate in the fight against climate change. Should a multinational corporation influence the science and the politics of climate change. What are the business interest at stake and the ethical dimensions lying behind? Do some oil companies act like tobacco companies, trying to conceal scientific evidence, to subvert political institutions and to manipulate public opinions? Are the other really ethical?

Tema 12. Internet Companies and International Law (Case Study)

The Internet is emblematic of the new globalization of business. As a new means of cross-borders communication, it is not regulated by a set of rules at the international level. How should an Internet company like Yahoo! decide about which law of which country to respect? How a better knowledge of the ethical dimensions of communication can help to take better business decisions? We study the issue of international law and the Internet through the example of the selling of nazi objects on the auction site of Yahoo!

Tema 13. Involvement of Oil Companies in African Politics (Case Study)

Suppose your company operates in an African country and that some local activists begin to criticize your activities. Suppose further these activists become closer and closer to terrorists and that the government of the country arrests them. Should your company stay neutral? Should your company help the government to arrest them, even if such government is a brutal military dictatorship? This is the question that Shell faced in Nigeria in 1996. We study the case and its developments. Its dramatic consequences prompted Shell to modify its attitude towards ethical behavior in business.

Tema 14. Global Labor Markets: Exploitation or Development? (Case Study with short Video)

It is natural for a multinational company to benefit from lower production costs. For instance, companies like Adidas, Reebok and Nike do produce a lot of their products in countries where salaries are much lower than in Europe or in the United States. But is this acceptable if wages are low because children produce the goods? We study the production of soccer balls by children in Pakistan and the policy towards child labor adopted by companies of the sporting goods sector. Beyond child labor, should Nike allow the same labor rights to its factories in Indonesia than in the United States?

Tema 15. Corruption in Asia: what can a manager do? (Case Study)

As a newly appointed manager of a production facility in Asia, you face a corruption request from an official. You are not very sure about the practices and the consequences of refusing to bribe the official. How should you behave in such a situation? Why?

Tema 16. What is business success? Goals and processes…(Case Study with short Video)

We tend to think that success lies in the attainment of goals. But sometimes, goals prevent us from success because we are prisoners of our goals. So what makes us happy beyond goals. Through a case study depicting a Wall Street financial analyst facing a dilemma in mountaineering, we study how each of our behaviors combines a process and a goal. Being able to evaluate both processes and goals, independently of each other, allow one to better combine attainment of goals with self-accomplishment.